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Re: ..... / oil recommendations

To: "Barney Gaylord" <barneymg@juno.com>, <robert@woozy.com>
Subject: Re: ..... / oil recommendations
From: Larry Macy <macy@bblmail.psycha.upenn.edu>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 97 11:40:09 -0500
>Robert,
>
>On Wed, 12 Nov 1997 04:28:03 +0100 robert weeks <robert@woozy.com>
>writes:
>
Barney,
That was me and I still insist on Valvoline in my Midget. I'm glad to see 
that somebody else doesn't fall into the "if it's English it must be 
Castrol" trap.

Larry Macy
78 Midget
PS on the Skyline trip the only oil I lost was from a bad gasket on the 
dipstick - about 1/2 qt in 2000 mi. (not nearly 19,000 though)
>>..... Also someone on the list wrote about getting low oil pressure
>readings with Castrol and they were going to switch back to their old
>oil. If you are out there or anyone remembers this post, can you tell me
>what the author of the post was switching back to?
>
>I can't remember who the poster was, but I believe the comment was that
>Castrol 20W50 oil would thin out too much when it got hot and the oil
>pressure would drop accordingly.  The poster seemed to think that
>Valvoline 20W50 oil retained the viscosity and the oil pressure better
>when hot.
>
>I think I can agree with that, and more.  I've used Valvoline oil for
>years.  I have generally run Valvoline 10W40 oil in my MGA 1500 engine. 
>For the trip to Alaska this year, towing a trailer for thousands of
>miles, I switched it to Valvoline 20W50 oil before the trip.  It seemed
>to have a few psi more pressure when cool, about the same when hot.  When
>getting the oil changed at some commercial quick change places during the
>trip, it ended up with Castrol 20W50 oil in the engine.  While the
>pressure was about the same at higher speeds (same relief pressure), the
>idle pressure was noticeably lower when hot, like 25 psi rather than 40
>psi.
>
>After the 19,000 mile trip I switched it back to Valvoline 10W40, and the
>pressure resumed its pre-trip habits, about 40 psi at idle when hot.  The
>one-step-better bit is that I think that Valvoline 10W40 holds the
>viscosity and oil pressure when hot better than Castrol 20W50.  Go
>figure.
>
>Barney Gaylord
>1958 MGA with an attitude

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